Returning From the Shadows
by Miss Royale
Summary: When someone thought lost returns, you freak out. What happens when Lily Evans is proven to be alive? How did she survive? And most importantly, why did Harry survive? A mystery is unraveled as with the sudden appearance of one woman.


I heard the faint rustle of leaves behind me. I was not alarmed, nor was I calm. I was indeed tense, for it was a dark age.

My name is Ginevra Weasley, although most know me as Ginny. And you're probably wondering what I'm doing outside, when it's a dark age. The answer is simple, yet extremely complex, depending on how you look at it.

I fell in love with Harry Potter. The Harry Potter. Boy-Who-Lived, Chosen One, whatever you prefer to call him. He left last year, his final year at Hogwarts, to look for something that will help defeat the Dark Lord, taking my best friend, Hermione, and brother, Ron, with him. And I'm on a search for all three of them. Or all that are still alive.

My shoulder ached, my face was cut, my feet were sore, yet I continued to climb the hill. It was nearing midnight, I guess, but time meant nothing to me these days. I was going to climb up to the mansion at the top of the hill, for it was rumored that many dark things lived there. Foolish, it may sound, but to me, it's sounds reckless, and that's what I am. Maybe it doesn't make sense to you, but it certainly does to me.

I heard a distant howl, and I felt a ball of fear form in my stomach. It was a full moon. I sped up.

Finally, I reached the large Manor standing at the top of the mountain. I rested my hand on the doorknob, trying to calm my jittering nerves. With a deep breath, I turned the knob and pushed open the door.

I stepped inside. I was now in the Riddle House. I heard odd sounds coming here and there, the hiss of a snake, the squeak of a mouse. I didn't dare move for a moment, trying to have my eyes adjust to the light. Or rather, the lack of light.

After a moment, I silently shut the door, and walked forward, my footsteps making an eerily loud noise as they hit the stone floor. Some Gryffindor I was.

I kept walking straight, finally walking straight into a wall. Actually, it seemed like a door, as a knob was sticking into my thin stomach. I pursed my lips at the small bit of pain, before I lay my hand on the doorknob, turning it carefully.

I stepped forward, and felt nothing under my foot. I brought my foot down, and it hit a stair. Carefully, I felt around in the dark for a railing of some kind. My right wrist collided with a stone rod, and I grabbed it, my left hand against the wall to keep me steady, and I climbed down the stairs.

I heard ragged breathing from somewhere, but it sounded like a prisoner, not a Death Eater. Carefully, I pulled out my wand, and lit it without a speaking. The burst of light blinded me for a moment, and I shut my eyes for a second.

Finally, I opened them. The light fell upon a hard stone ground. There were a few plates here and there, and a small stain on the ground that looked horribly like blood. I moved the wand farther from me, casting the light around even farther, and the light fell upon a arm. I nearly screamed.

I walked forward, and the light fell upon a woman of about thirty five. I nearly gave a scream.

She looked rather a lot like me. She had dark red hair, and pale skin. Her eyes were closed, and she looked awfully underfed. She was still alive, I could tell, because her chest was moving up and down as she took ragged breaths.

"E-excuse me?" I asked softly.

The woman jerked awake, and stared at me with wide eyes. She looked alert, not frightened. Now that her eyes were opened, I could see that they were emerald green orbs. Emerald green orbs that looked an awful lot like Harry's, but no, she was dead…right?

"Who are you?" she said harshly. I swallowed, holding my wand higher.

"G-Ginny Weasley. Who are you?" I asked nervously. Her face softened when I spoke my last name. I guess she knew that it was impossible for a Weasley to ever become a Death Eater.

"Lily Potter." She mumbled, suddenly looking even more tired. I was shocked. Harry was an orphan, I knew that. But than, why was she here? There couldn't be multiple Lily Potter's in the world, nor could they all look the same, so she was probably telling the truth, but how?

"A-aren't you supposed to be dead?" I asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had been cast over us.

"Dead?" Lily shouted, standing up suddenly. "Is that what the Death Eaters have said about me? Oh God, Harry! He must think he's an orphan! Sweet Merlin, he is with Sirius, right? What's the date? How old is he?" Lily ranted.

"Yes, the Death Eaters said you were dead. " I said slowly. "Though obviously you're not…yes, Harry thinks he's an orphan, he's lived with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon all his life, the date is 1997, and he's seventeen years old." I answered.

"PETUNIA?" Lily shrieked. Alarmed, a quickly cast a silencing charm on the room.

"Yes, Petunia." I said, feeling slightly frightened. This woman sure had one hell of a temper.

"1997…that means I've been missing – thought dead – for sixteen years. And how do you know Harry?" she asked suddenly, as though suspicious.

"He is, I mean used to be, um, he's was my boy – he's my brother's best friend." I answered. I was going to say he was my boyfriend, than I was about to say that he was my boyfriend, but I think it's best to say that he's Ron's best friend.

"Okay." Lily muttered softly.

"How did you escape? I thought the Dark lord killed you." I said curiously, forgetting that I was in a Death Eater headquarters (possibly, talking with a woman who was assumed dead.

"Well, so did I. But apparently since he didn't want to kill me, he couldn't. Ever heard the expression that you can only pull an Unforgivable if you truly desire to do so?" I nodded, and Lily continued. "Well, after that, I was knocked into a coma. I woke up rather recently, maybe a month or so ago. I was found my one of the Death Eaters, quite young, actually. He looked like Lucius Malfoy, but younger. His son, I guess." I nodded.

"Draco Malfoy." I said tonelessly. Lily nodded.

"At any rate, how is life now?" she asked quickly. I could tell that she needed to catch up, and than I had every intention of helping her escape.

"Well, since you were willing to risk your life for Harry, out of love, he survived, while Vold – I mean the Dark Lord-" I was cut off by Lily.

"Call him Voldemort. Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself." She said, quoting Dumbledore.

"Okay. While Voldemort vanished, somehow. He came back two years ago, though, I don't know how. And ever since, he's been murdering right, left, center, and any other direction you can think of." I finished. Lily paled even further.

"We need to get out of here." Lily said suddenly. "Can you Apparate?" she asked. "I'm in no state to, I'll splinch myself."

I shook my head. "Can you make a portkey?" I asked. Lily nodded, and I rummaged in my pockets, pulling out a watch, and handed it, as well as my wand, to Lily.

"Portus." She muttered, and the simple watch glowed electric blue for a moment, before it returned to normal state.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Your Home." She answered, laying her hand on the band of the watch. I nodded, and lay my hand on the actual clock itself, and I felt the familiar tug behind my navel, before the grimy state of the – whatever Lily was trapped in – disappearing quickly.

My feet came in contact with the ground too quickly for my knowledge. I glanced up at the small house, before looking around for Lily. She was standing behind me, looking at my familiar home with awe.

"This is where you live? It's lovely!" she exclaimed. Why did I feel that she was an old friend of mine?

"Yes, come." I said, and sharply rapped on the door with my hand.

"Who is it?" a sharp voice called. I recognized it as Mum's.

"Me, Ginny." I called tiredly. The door was flung open and I was suddenly enveloped in a hug. I groaned against my mother's neck, trying to breathe.

"Ginny! You just disappeared from school, I thought you were dead! You never came back! Oh, come in, you must be freezing!" she said, pulling me in, but I stood firmly.

"Mum…I want you to meet someone, and I'm not crazy, believe me! This is Harry's mum." I trailed off, and Lily stepped out of the shadows that his her flaming red hair, that was now mixed in with strands of grey hair. Mum looked shocked as she stared at Lily for a few minutes.

"E-Evans?" she stuttered finally.

"Actually, it's Potter now." Lily admitted, her face looking even more tired than she had when I had found her at Riddle House.

She was still looking around, as though she hadn't seen anything like grass in years. Actually, she probably hadn't. I highly doubt Lucius Malfoy escorted Lily into the gardens, or something.

Finally, Lily looked at mum, and her facial expression changed. There was a look of recognition on her face.

"Molly?"

Mum nodded, and my brow furrowed.

"How do you two know each other?" I asked slowly, my mind struggling to process this. Oh, you try to run away from your boarding school during a dark time, find your ex-boyfriend's mother, who by the way is supposed to be dead, bring her back to your house, have your mother crush you to death, than find out the your mother knows this woman that you just found and still be able to keep your brain taking in everything. It's hard, right? I recommend not trying it.

"Molly was Head Girl in my first year. She gave me my first detention ever." Lily explained.

"Oh, yes, you tried to curse James, and only sparks came out, and you got so mad that, well, you earned a detention." Mum finished, her eyes glazing over as she remembered.

"James…" Lily said softly, her emerald green eyes shining with restrained tears at the mention of her late husband's name.

"Sorry, you two must be freezing. Come in, come in. Oy, Tonks!" Mum called. A woman with bright green hair came bustling in.

"New hairstyle, Tonks?" I asked wearily.

"Yep. Who's this?" Tonks answered, referring to Lily.

"Lily Evans, you know, Harry's mother?" Molly said.

"Potter," Lily corrected again.

"Did I just here the name Lily Evans – bloody hell, Lily?" Remus burst out.


End file.
